Synopsis (from Amazon): When Deborah reluctantly helps her beloved husband Neil end his life and conceals the truth, she is charged with murder. As the trial unfolds and her daughter Sophie testifies against her, Deborah, still reeling with grief, fights to defend her actions. Twelve jurors hold her fate in their hands, if found guilty she will serve a life sentence. Deborah seeks solace in her memories of Neil and their children and the love they shared. An ordinary woman caught up in an extraordinary situation. A finely written page-turner, compelling, eloquent, heart-breaking. The Kindest Thing tackles a controversial topic with skill and sensitivity. A book that begs the question: what would you do?

Review: This was quite a riveting read for me. I thought I had quite a solid opinion on assisted suicide but over the course of the book I have questioned it several times and I’m now much less sure of where I stand. The story is told from the viewpoint of Deborah who is on trial for the murder of her husband Neil. Neil was a Motor Neurone Disease sufferer and Deborah assisted him when he decided it was time to end his life. Whilst the book is solely from Deborah’s view, as the story and the trial unfolds you begin to see the wider consequences of what has happened to this family.

Although my opinions on the subject have wavered, my support for Deborah through the book remained. You are never far from the fact that she truly loved her husband and everything she did was for him despite her better judgement. You really feel for her when she describes the hellish time she had even contemplating what her husband wanted of her and for me, the most poignant moment was the realisation of what she had taken from her children. Yes, she had helped her husband and done as he asked but her children were denied the opportunity to say goodbye and possibly from seeing their mother again as she is put on trial.

The ups and downs of the trial has kept me riveted throughout and I must admit that I stayed in my bath considerably longer than I really should have but I just had to know poor Deborah’s fate. I won’t give the ending away but I will encourage you all to go and read this.

Synopsis (from Amazon): The throbbing music, the raucous catcalls, the glamorous costumes, and most of all the sensual skin of burlesque reveal much to the audience, but for Mallory the biggest revelation is her own untapped desire. When recent law school grad Mallory Dale’s boyfriend, Alec, takes her to a burlesque club for her birthday, she is annoyed. Is this a show for her, or for him? But when beautiful, mysterious burlesque star Bette Noir pulls Mallory on stage, Mallory’s world changes overnight. Soon, Bette becomes Mallory’s private tutor in the tantalizing art of the striptease. Exploring burlesque awakens Mallory’s true erotic nature, but if she devotes herself to her new-found sensual pleasures, will she risk losing Alec? Or can she really have it all?

Review: On the back of the “50 Shades revolution” we have recently been inundated with books of the more erotic variety. We experienced something similar a couple of years ago with the Twilight Saga, and whilst I didn’t really appreciate the originals, I was more than happy to read more of the genre that came to light in their wake. In a similar vein, I have read 50 Shades (the less said about that the better, really) and now I’m looking, with interest, at similar books being released in the slip stream. This one caught my eye as it was burlesque in nature and not BDSM. Whilst I knew it would still be erotic in nature, I was engaged by the idea of a woman going to a burlesque club and becoming enamoured with the lifestyle. Unlike many of its predecessors, it’s not about being submissive; this book is more about female empowerment. The lead character, Mallory, is going through some difficult times in her life and the burlesque scene allows her to deal with her issues and grow as a person and as a woman. Whilst I understand that this book is from the erotic genre, and by definition, has some very descriptive scenes within it, I personally don’t think they were necessary. With a few tweaks here and there (of the book, naughty!), I think this could have been a fantastic story in its own right, without the overt sexual content. My only concern is that the actual story may be overlooked because people are after a naughty thrill. I hope not though, because there is a genuine talent lurking within. If you are looking for something with more depth than the 50 Shades trilogy, then this is for you. Don’t worry, you still get your fix of full-on fantasy, and you may even learn a few things along the way ;)

Synopsis (from Amazon):
September is a twelve-year-old girl, Somewhat Grown and Somewhat Heartless, and she longs for adventure. So when a Green Wind and a Leopard of Little Breezes invite her to Fairyland – well, of course, she accepts (mightn’t you?). When she gets there, she finds a land crushed by the iron rule of a villainous Marquess – she soon discovers that she alone holds the key to restoring order. As September forges her way through Fairyland, with a book-loving dragon and a boy named Saturday by her side, she makes many friends and mistakes. But while she loses her shadow, her shoe and her way, she finds adventure, courage, a rather special Spoon, and a lot more besides . . .

Review:
I can’t rate this book highly enough. It is so lovely and fantastical and magical that my inner child just ate it up. I’m still a little conflicted about the target audience as, for all intents and purposes, it’s a children’s story, but then nestled in amongst the almost lyrical story are words like vichyssoise and talk of diplomatic immunity. My overall thought is that it is a children’s book, but it’s intended to be read out loud by a nominated adult, who, whilst telling this wonderful tale, will get just as much from it as the utterly engrossed listener.

September is one lucky girl. You know that moment, where your imagination runs away with you, and you are taken to a far off world where everything is colourful and magical and nothing like every day, boring life?? Well, September gets to live that!

One day, she is going about her usual tasks and then from nowhere appears the Green Wind riding on a leopard. Without even a backwards glance, September climbs through the window and embarks on a journey to Fairyland and finds herself having in the craziest adventure. Along the way we meet some loveable (and some not so loveable) characters, my favourite being Ell the “Wyvery” (the offspring of a Wyvern and a Library – it all makes sense when you read it!)

The story is engrossing and hurtles along at a very fast pace throughout, although sometimes, I just couldn’t turn the pages quick enough! September’s journey through Fairyland is not all fun and games though, and she has some serious decision making to do on her way, along with a battle or two for survival.

The book leaves the story open enough for September to continue her adventures in Fairyland and I am so pleased to know that there is at least one more adventure for her to have, although I’m definitely hoping for many more.

Synopsis (from Fantastic Fiction):Charlotte-Rose de la Force, exiled from the court of King Louis XIV, has always been a great talker and teller of tales.

Selena Leonelli, once the exquisite muse of the great Venetian artist Tiziano, is terrified of time.

Margherita, trapped in a doorless tower and burdened by tangles of her red-gold hair, must find a way to escape.

You may think you know the story of Rapunzel . . .

Review:
Everyone loves a good fairytale, and one of the most beautiful, mysterious and compelling of all is that of Rapunzel. It has had many different names and versions, but the one that is perhaps best known was penned not by a man (or by the bothers Grimm, as most people assume – they only adapted it) , as most novels and writings of that time, but by a woman. And not just any woman, but one of the most notorious and scandalous women of her age, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force, who was exiled from the court of King Louis XIV, the Sun King, after a life that would make even the most hedonistic of courtiers blush!

Kate Forsyth has expertly woven together three stories that at once mirror each other whilst at the same time are completely different, deftly combining different time lines and locations to create an exquisitely intricate tale that will shock, amaze and bewitch. Readers will be drawn into the whirlwind of the 17th century French court, and the artistic beauty of Italy as the elements draw together the lives of Madamoiselle de la Force (the storyteller), Selena Leonelli (the sorceress), and Margherita (who has had so many incarnations as the beautiful heroine with the tangled hair).

The lines between fact and fiction are expertly blurred and blended till we find ourselves wrapped up in the fairytale ourselves, no longer able to untangle the strands of three very different lives that have culminated in one of the best-loved fairytales of all time.

Synopsis (from Amazon):Grace has been best friends with Ella and Flick forever. The late-night chats, shared heartaches and good times have created a bond that has stood the test of time.

When Ella invites them to stay for a week in her cottage in South Wales, Grace jumps at the chance to see her old friends. She also hopes that the change of scenery will help her reconnect with her distant husband.

This is going to be one week which will change all their lives forever…

Join Grace, Ella and Flick for a week of love, laughter, tears and friendship in A Cottage by the Sea

Review:
I do not usually read chick-lit or romance, but a few years back I came across The Chocolate Lovers’ Club and its sequel, The Chocolate Lovers’ Diet, and thoroughly enjoyed them. So when Carole Matthews’ publishing team asked for volunteers to read and review her latest novel, A Cottage by the Sea, I jumped at the chance.

If I ever read another chick-lit novel, it will be one by Carole Matthews!

I love her fresh, easy style of writing – it seems to flow so effortlessly from one page to the next, so that it barely feels like one is reading at all, more one is absorbing the story by osmosis or some similar biological process. The story seeps into the reader with ease and in a manner that feels wholly organic and natural.

As with most chick-lit, it’s entirely predictable – there wasn’t a single move I didn’t see coming a mile off, but I found I didn’t care – I wanted things to happen the way they did – it felt right and I enjoyed the ride so much that I didn’t really want it to end. It really made me hanker after a holiday in a little cottage in Pembrokeshire, despite the fact that I know my own hubby would hate being away from technology as much as some of the characters here did – I know I’m more of a Grace or Ella when it comes to being somewhere peaceful and undisturbed. And I really did like the characters – I felt like I’d known Grace, Ella and Flick for years, and like an old friend, sometimes I wanted to slap Flick and tell her to grow up. Similarly I wanted to shake Harry and Art, and I completely fell for the lovely Noah – but then, who wouldn’t?

Reading a light novel like this feels like a holiday for my brain and it was exactly what I needed while I recovered from flu. Highly enjoyable, fun, just a joy to read – Carole Matthews gets my vote any day of the week for holiday reading!

Synopsis (from Amazon):When Luke Warren is involved in a car accident which leaves him in a coma, his family are gathered together against the odds; they face an impossible dilemma. His daughter Cara is praying for a miracle: she will fight everything and everyone to save her father’s life. His son Edward can’t imagine that a man who once ran with wolves could ever be happy with a different life. But Edward hasn’t spoken to Luke for six years. How can he dare to speak on his father’s behalf? Somehow, they must choose: Do they keep Luke alive? Or do they let him go?

Review: This wasn’t my favourite Picoult book and at times I found it a bit of a struggle to continue reading, however, towards the end, the pace picked up and overall, I’m glad I persevered. This book asks those age old questions about life and death and how we cope. We are also given a new perspective from that of the wolf and how they, as a pack, deal with very similar situations.

Throughout the book, Luke is in a coma. We follow his story through a series of flashbacks where we learn of his experiences out in the wild, living with the wolves and his struggle to reintegrate himself back into his family. His time with the wolves and the journey he takes to be accepted by the pack are crazy but touching at the same time. Luke (and in turn, the reader) is taught a great many lessons from these wild animals and their way of life. This aspect of the book, sometimes felt at odds to the on-going story, but overall was a fantastic way of giving the man in the coma his own voice.

The remainder of the book is written from the conflicting views of his two children, his ex-wife and her new husband, and a court appointed guardian. Edward doesn’t want to see his father suffer any longer and wants to exercise his father’s wish to be an organ donor. Cara wants her father to be given the chance to pull through and perhaps recover from his injuries. Georgia is pulled back into the life she left a long time ago and is stuck between her two warring children. I suppose my own personal preferences are quite obvious as, whilst I sympathised with Cara, I thought Edward was in the right. However, I do appreciate that depending on the reader, this will change. Picoult has written the book in such a way that both sides of the story are given equal viewing and she never leans one way or another. This gives the reader the chance to make up their own mind. Picoult is a master at making us ask ourselves those difficult questions. Which way would you turn? How would you react in this situation? And at the same time, she writes beautifully poignant stories that tie you to the characters and ensure you stay with them every step of the way.

Synopsis (from Amazon):Catherine Crawford, a mother of two young daughters, is tired of the indulgent brand of parenting so popular in her trendy Brooklyn neighbourhood. All of the negotiating and bargaining has done scant more than to create a generation of little tyrants. After being exposed to the well-behaved, respectful children of her French friends, une lumière went on – French children don’t talk back!

Why French Children Don’t Talk Back is a witty and insightful look at how the French manage to bring up obedient, well-adjusted kids. It occupies a pragmatic place on the book shelf and in life – an anti-Tiger Mother approach to parenting.

Review:I’ve never been much of a one for parenting books, but as a mother of an increasingly cheeky four-year-old boy (I swear, he was perfect before he went to nursery school!), I found myself intrigued by the title, and being something of a Francophile, I thought in for a cent, in for a Euro, as it were!

I was pleased to discover a very common sense approach presented on the pages! It really is all just straight forward advice on setting boundaries for your children in a way they will understand, while not driving yourself crazy and drinking yourself into oblivion every night after the bedtime battle lasts several hours (fortunately, the bedtime battle is one we’ve never had to fight, as our son has always had a very strict bedtime routine).

As it turns out, our parenting approach is particularly, well, French, I suppose! We already did quite a lot of the things mentioned in the book, such as insisting on proper manners and having good behaviour when we eat out, however I decided to try a little experiment in some other areas and to my surprise, after only a few days, they are already beginning to work! Suddenly our son no longer has an outburst when we tell him that no, he cannot watch a second film in one day or have the television on in the background! In fact, just yesterday he watched The Wizard of Oz then asked to watch Mary Poppins as soon as it was finished, When I replied that he had already watched one film and one was all he was allowed, he shrugged and said, “OK, Mummy. Can we have some music on instead please?” Another rule we’ve suddenly implemented is no sweets except at the weekend. He never got a lot of confectionery to begin with, but we were in the habit of rewarding him with a small piece of chocolate roughly every other day if he’d been even remotely good, in the hopes that this would ensure further good behaviour. Today he asked for some chocolate and I said no. He asked once more and I repeated that there would only be chocolate on the weekends. I was floored when he asked for a banana instead!

I suppose what I’m getting at is that this seems to be one parenting book where the advice actually works! Some parents may find some of the steps difficult to follow (such as entirely ignoring a child throwing a tantrum – the sooner they realise they will not even be looked at, the sooner they stop screaming), but with a little perseverance it should all become second nature and, theoretically, we could all have well behaved little munchkins who don’t show us up in public and do as they are asked without us having to repeat it ad nauseum.

Crawford’s style is easy to read – I really felt like I was chatting with an old friend – and her own trial and error experiments with these techniques on her own two daughters are laid bare, complete with what worked and what she’s still working on with them, but if she is to be believed, her girls are transforming into well behaved, very French kids.

Now all I have to do is get our boy to enjoy his food, complete with vegetables and we’ll be completely Frenchified too!

Synopsis (from Amazon):The Complete Dukan Cookbook provides over 300 recipes for all stages of the [Dukan] diet to help you lose the weight you want like millions of others have around the world.

Review:I must be up-front in that I do not subscribe to any particular diet, especially one that cuts out an entire major food group for even a short time, but I am always interested in finding new recipes to try, especially if they can help me shed a few extra pounds as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

The Complete Dukan Cookbook is very nicely put together – a sturdy hardback with glossy pages that will be easy to wipe down if you get a few splashes on it while trying out a recipe or two. There’s a handy introduction that reminds devotees of the basic principles of the Dukan Diet without going into it too deeply (you’d have to get hold of Dr Dukan’s other books – The Dukan Diet or The Dukan Diet Life Plan for the full works), but it does mean that you have the basic information at your fingertips without having to refer back to another book before you start cooking.

The recipes themselves are divided into colour-coded sections so that you can easily find a recipe for whatever stage you are at in your plan – each phase has starters, main courses and desserts, with pure protein, protein and vegetables, and vegetarian options clearly marked. There is also an abundance of gorgeous photos illustrating most of the recipes, and they are so sumptuous I am almost tempted to try out every recipe in this book! Finally, there’s a very handy glossary at the back so you can quickly find any recipe that caught your eye without having to remember which section it is in.

All foodies, whether following the Dukan diet or not, will find something to enjoy in this compendium of delicious dishes – you can cook everything or just drool over those pictures – either way, this will look lovely in anyone’s cookbook collection and may just add a few new recipes to your repertoire and broaden your tastebuds’ horizons a little.

Title: The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy LifeAuthor: Noble SmithISBN: 978-1444759648Publisher: Hodder & StoughtonFirst Published: November 2012 (hardback) / February 2013 (audio) / June 2013 (paperback)No .of pages: 224

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis (from Amazon):Coinciding with the release of the first of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, his follow-up to the huge Lord of the Rings success, The Wisdom of the Shire is a practical and fun guide – for Tolkien fans everywhere – showing us how to apply the wisdom of The Hobbit to our everyday lives.

Hobbits are those small but brave little people, whose courage, integrity and loyalty allow them to triumph against odds that might appear overwhelming to the rest of us. Noble Smith has long believed there is much we can learn from Frodo’s determination, Bilbo’s sense of homeliness, Sam’s fierce allegiance, and Merry and Pippin’s love of food and fun. Like The Tao of Pooh, The Wisdom of the Shire is the first book to show Tolkien fans just how much there is to learn from those small but brave little people – the Hobbits.

Packed with amusing insights and fascinating trivia, this fun and insightful guide is all you need to complete your quest in life, and cast your cares into the fires of Mordor.

Review:This is one of those delightful little books that “does exactly what it says on the tin.” It explores the Shire and visits with the Hobbits who live there like old friends, as well as stopping by various other places in Middle Earth and introducing us to elves, wizards, dwarves, and even ents, as we get to know them better and discover exactly what it is that makes Hobbits so, well, Hobbit-ish.

Hobbits, of course, are some of the best-loved characters in literature, and there is barely a person you’ll meet who hasn’t at least heard of them, even if they haven’t read the books by Tolkien or seen Peter Jackson’s wonderful films. The Wisdom of the Shire looks at how following the Hobbits’ example can lead to a happier life as we learn to appreciate the small and simple things in life – good food, good friends, a cosy home, and a love of the natural world around us.

Filled with fascinating tidbits of information about the people and places of middle earth, as well as the author and the actors who have played roles in the films, this little book keeps you turning the pages to the very end, where you will find a Hobbit test (apparently I am extremely Hobbit-like!) and directions for making your own small Hobbit-inspired garden.

If you’re a fan of the books or the films, you will love this book. Even if you’re not, you’ll probably be able to get something out of the gentle advice it gives in an entirely Hobbit-ish way – never intrusive, always warm and friendly – and will be left with a warm feeling inside, and possibly inspired to live your life the way the Hobbits do, even if you live in the middle of a busy city.

Synopsis (from Amazon):No one in the neighbourhood has seen the Gutteridges’ little girl Samantha for months. But Brendan and Sherilyn look happier than ever, so nothing is wrong. Is it?
For the Gutteridges, Samantha was just a thing that threatened to worm its way into their perfect love. For everyone else, her story is the stuff of tabloid headlines. But this time it’s not in a newspaper, it’s happening right next door . . .

Review:
I’ve only rated this average as I found the subject matter difficult to read. This probably sounds silly and you may well ask “why did you read it then?” but it really is a well written book and once the difficult (but vital) details where over with, I really couldn’t put it down.

The story is about a couple who are so desperately in love that nothing can come between them. They bond so closely that they feel nothing else is needed in their perfect world. Along comes an unexpected child and we are thrown into the story of her abuse and eventual murder. You are given brief glimpses of what she suffered at their hands, and this is more than enough for you to get the idea. The author doesn’t need to go into details and once you are made aware of what happened, the focus then shifts on to the “why”. The interesting thing about this book is the story being told in brief statements and recollections of everyone involved, from the neighbours who first alerted the police, to the parents of both of the perpetrators. The only person who doesn’t get a say is the little girl herself.

As the threads of each story pull together, you build up a picture of how the parents evolved from early childhood and the events that lead to their despicable crime. The story also continues through their trial and eventual imprisonment.

I read the whole book in one day, hoping to find some reason behind the crime, some sort of explanation to help ease my mind, but I got to the end of the book and there was none. Personally, I don’t think their childhood or upbringing explains away any of their actions, although it is important to understand where they came from. I suppose this is more true to life than I was expecting as there is rarely any explanation for these crimes. Despite the difficult basis of the story, I would still recommend this, as a very well-constructed idea, which the author pulls off very well.